What do architects read? pt.1 | The Fountainhead & Ecclesiastes

http://howtoarchitect.com/ Ayn Rand wrote one of the most famous architecture books in the world, The Fountainhead. The book sits in stark contrast to another well read chapter in the Hebrew Bible, Ecclesiastes. Find out why both are important texts.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Ayn Rand
• The Fountainhead
• fountainhead
• Gary Cooper
• Howard Roark
• Ecclesiastes
• bible
• the bible
• hebrew bible
• Educational

[shysterlicious]

"People should be free to make decisions based on their own needs and desires rather than the needs of others..." Ironic to apply this philosophy to an architect since most architects build and create based on the needs of others. Not many architects design so that they can enjoy their creation while everyone else ignores it.

[happyc00kie]

omg! this is everything I've been thinking about recently!!! sooo gonna find myself this book!!!

[diffnature]

Just the other day I was thinking about Rand and her philosophy of self-interest and it lead me to think about architecture. A building is not a private thing but a public one, it affects not only the architect but everyone who comes into contact with it. From this point of view it is problematic to think of architecture as a purely individualistic pursuit. One of the most common criticisms leveled at modernist architects is in fact the anti-social egotism of their designs.

[captainpanic08]

Niemeyer was a rather contrary person to cite, surely, being a communist.

[captainpanic08]

@shysterlicious Only incredibly unsuccessful ones do.

[MissLittleWallflower]

Read the fountainhead too :D!

[Montops]

Anthem was another good one. I got interested inarchitecture from The Fountainhead, then I found your channel. Thanks.

[CorvetteTeaser]

can you do more of this? what else should an architect read? this is my list: 1. The eyes of the Skin by Juhani Pallasmaa 2. The 10 Books on Architecture by Marcus Vitruvius Pollio, 3. Utilitarianism By: John Stuart Mill, 4. books of Peter Zumthor. i cant think of any more!

[dalrekantarah]

profound

[LegitArchitecture]

@fullfist is it possible that your own religious views have skewed your perspective and tainted your comparison of the two? All I can say is that I am only human and view myself as a centralized being (I cannot view from any other perspective). I have my own goals and pursuits, though my these will often coincide with those of others.

Not to try and start a religious debate, but I think that we are all entitled to grant meaning to our own lives - whether it is from god or any other source.

[weav8060]

Some correction to the author's summary. capitalism and freedom were not themes -- or even topics -- of this book. the book's theme is psychological independence. self-interest and choice (free will) were topics, but in this story were subservient to the theme (ethics logically comes first and is fundamental, but in romantic fiction you can make it secondary). Atlas Shrugged was different, of course.

[fullfist]

"The fountainhead" is nothing more than post modernistic ramblings of the godless world, they have replaced themselves with God, their success is their God, and such a life knows only darkness.

it encourages this doctrine of "I am my own God, i pursue glory for myself and all morality is just relative to my own success."

-

Solomon had everything under the sun, yet it was all empty to him. Ecclesiastes understood this.

"Only one life, will soon be past,

Only what's done for the Lord will last.